31st Youthtown Condor Sevens Announced

25 October 2017

Youthtown Inc. are proud to announce their role as supporting sponsor for the 2017 Condor Sevens.

The Condor Sevens, the National Secondary Schools Sevens Finals, a seven-a-side Rugby Union competition, which in 2011 had only sixteen boys teams competing at a one day tournament, has expanded to a four day event and expecting to host over one hundred teams in 2017, up from 96 teams in 2016.

Sevens Rugby was showcased in the 2016 Rio Olympics, bringing success for the New Zealand Women's team picking up a silver medal. The next Olympic will be in Tokyo, Japan and we believe we are assisting in developing the next layer of talent through this tournament.

Sir Gordon Tietjens has said that "the schoolboys (schoolgirls) of today will be the Olympians of tomorrow", as players such as TJ Perenara, Aaron Smith, Akira and Rieko Ioane and the late Jonah Lomu were all former New Zealand Sevens players who played as 'Condors' in the National Finals, to kick-start their careers.

Two players from the 2016 tournament, Villimoni Koroi and Lyric Faleafaga are now in the respective national New Zealand Mens and Womens teams after being spotted and fast-tracked.

The Condor Sevens are open to boys and girls, in both the Open Grade and U15 categories.

However, the Condor Sevens is not just about elite players, as there is now over 14 regional tournaments the feed into the National Programme with over 200 teams competing regionally.

"Youthtown is delighted to partner with the Condor Sevens event. Sport is a fantastic vehicle for youth development and being a partner of this event aligns superbly with Youthtown's vision to empower young New Zealanders to be the best they can be", says Paula Kearns, Youthtown CEO.

On the new partnership with Youthtown, Condor Rugby Football Club Chairman, Eddie Mei says, "We share a similar philosophy with Youthtown, in that we foster and promote youth sport and are very much proponents of 'The Youthtown Way'. We look forward to our partnership with Youthtown Condor Sevens in 2017 and beyond".

Key Points:
31st Condor Sevens supported by Youthtown will take place November 30th to December 3rd
There are boys and girls teams competing in two categories Open Grade and U15 (Under 15 years)
Find our more: www.condorsevens.co.nz